A Sifting
by QrazyQuokka
Summary: Told from the girls' POVs. Their sisterhood is about to be tested and all relationships will pass through the sieve of growing up. Rated M for abuse and suggested lemons.


Chapter 1: Flashbacks&Waterbottles PT 1

AN:/ Hey, this is my first stab at writing in a VEEEERRRRRRYYY LOOOOONNNGGG time. Like HS graduation, marriage, and multiple babies long! Please bare with me as I get back into the groove.

I also want to be completely up front about my margin for writing. The truth is that I enjoy it, and it is something that I do for me. That being said, I have three kiddos under age 5 in addition to the many teenagers that I mentor through our church. I want to do this story, start to finish. I am hoping to churn out something that is around 100k words...but I don't really know yet how many chapters that will end up translating to.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for your patience. I sincerely hope that you enjoy! 

PS: Beta readers wanted!

~~~~~~~~~Five Years Earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grasshoppers sang joyfully to one another. The smells of jasmine and freshly cut grass wafted in invisible swirls through the pleasantly warm May morning. Two young girls lay with their faces toward the sun while a third painted her toes a flashy magenta and a fourth arranged wildflowers into a crown.

"What do you think it would be like to live somewhere with more days like this?" wondered the smallest and most darkly complected of the quartet.

"Hopefully it would mean that I could make it through an entire week without my mom pulling me out of school to head to the tanning salon," the willowy blonde with the magenta toes fired back. "Not all of us were blessed with olive skin."

"Oh don't act like you don't love being the only girl in school with a real tan, Rose," admonished the crown-maker sunnily. "And to answer your question," she began arranging the finished crown on the blonde's head, "I think we might take them for granted, and we'd probably have to buy a lot more sunscreen." The crown-maker flopped onto her back and began "making angels" in the grass and flowers.

"I think my mom would be happier," said the brunette girl lying on her back in a very small voice. She never opened her eyes, but a tear escaped anyway.

No one missed it.

"So they're fighting again," it wasn't a question. It wasn't a surprise. As she spoke, the small girl linked her pinky with her friend's.

The brunette nodded imperceptibly.

The blonde abandoned her nail polish and shot a worried glance toward the crown-maker, who promptly flipped onto her stomach and began to run her fingers soothingly through the brunette's long hair.

"There's nothing that you can do about it Bell. They're grownups."

"I know, but it's not fair."

"Damn straight it's not."

"Rosalie! You cussed!" exclaimed the dark girl.

"What if this is it?" sobbed the brunette, pulling herself up to bury her face in her knees. "What if my mom takes off to 'find herself' in Tahiti, and takes me, and I never see any of you again?!"

The blonde began to rub soothing circles on her back. "Shhh, this could never be it. Like we'd let you escape this place without us."

Bella gave a watery chuckle.

"What we have goes deep. Way deeper than time or space. We'll always be friends," the crown-maker paused. "We're more than friends...we're…"

"Sisters," supplied the smallest girl.

"Yes, sisters."

"Well, let's make it official," said Rosalie with finality. "Let's meet back here at midnight, we can do a blood-sister pact."

The brunette went ghostly pale.

"Maybe spit sisters would be easier for Bella. You know how queasy she gets, Rose."

Rosalie rolled her dark blue eyes at the girl with caramel hair, and gave the smallest of pouts, "Fine."

"Wow! This is so cool! I'm going to bring some candles and Es can bring some incense," the small girl vibrated excitedly.

"Please don't go crazy Alice. I really do think it would be the final nail for my parents if we accidentally caught the house on fire."

"Oh you worry too much," the small girl pushed to her feet. "I'm going to start gathering supplies, someone should write something for us to say too" with that she skipped away.

The night had cooled some, and the warm, lazy smells of the day had been carried away on the breeze.

Alice, in all black, crept quietly through the night, arms laden with her mother's velvet holiday runner and a dozen tea lights.

A twig snapped.

"Ahh!" She squealed.

"Shut it Ali, it's just me," scolded Rose as she dropped to the ground and began to fold her long legs under herself. She slung her pack around and set it in front of her with a thump.

"Why did it have to be midnight Rosalie?" demanded a whisper out of the darkness.

"Afraid of the dark now, Esme?"

"That isn't fair, Rose, you know that I either have to walk by the graveyard or go the entire way around town to get here. None of you should ever doubt my love, that's all I'm saying."

"None of us will ever have to doubt anything again. That's the whole point, right?" asked Alice, carefully arranging candles.

"Right," said Bella, swinging her pack down with the others'.

"Gang's all here," bounced Alice. "Who brought the words?"

"I brought the booze," said Rosalie pulling a bottle of peach schnapps out of her pack.

"ROSE—" exclaimed the other three in unison.

"Just unknot your panties. I figured that if we were going to go the 'spit-sister' route that we should at least do it right."

"I'm pretty sure that will make us felon-sisters," Esme said resolutely, " but whatever, I'm in." She looked meaningfully to Alice.

"Um," the sprite breathed deeply, "me too."

They all turned to Bella.

She nodded.

"I brought the words," she pulled four copies of paper from her small bag.

The girls sat in a circle, the candles flickering and making the bottle of schnapps look like pure liquid.

"All together, and then we drink before we say the last line alone."

"I think we should say it all together again after that though. This is supposed to be about unity, right?" chimed Alice.

"I'm with the pixie," Rose stated.

"Then we drink again after," added Esme.

Bella nodded.

Grasping their papers, they all looked to Bella. She nodded again. They began to speak.

"Four souls, four lives, four corners of this earth. Each a part of the whole, and the whole a part of each. Nothing, not time, nor space, nor anything but the veil of life and death can separate us."

"Sisters," Rosalie took a long pull on the schnapps.

"Sisters," the alcohol had barely touched Alice's tongue before she began to splutter dramatically.

Esme grinned and grabbed for the bottle.

"Sisters," she finished with a grimace.

Bella grabbed for the bottle and considered it for a moment. She allowed herself to experience the fullness of what this promise meant to each of them. She felt the weight of her sisters' love for her.

"Sisters," she called loudly and took an even deeper draught than Rose had.

"Sisters," they all yelled together triumphantly, giggling as they passed the bottle around once more.

That night they slept beneath the stars together, dreaming of what was to come.

~~~~~~~~~Four Months Earlier~~~~~~~~~~

Esme POV

I loved this. Summer. The freedom that came with staying up all night. Smelling the brine roll in and roast itself on the bonfire.

The soft chatter among the groups of teenagers blended into the soothing eb and flow of the tide...although on nights like tonight I felt like the tides were always more encouraging than soothing. Pushing and daring me out of my comfort zone.

Every now and then the predictable cadence of the melodies would be broken by laughter. I couldn't help but look over where it was coming from.

Bobby Rednyolds.

He was athletic, but he didn't just limit himself to the jocks. Bobby got around to nearly every clique on campus. He'd helped the theater kids build sets and actually served as an understudy last year. He played forward on the hockey team. He was in National Honor Society, Treasurer of Student government. And he was funny. And really cute.

And really out of my league.

The only reason that I was even here was because our mom made my brother take me. Even though we were twins we were incredibly different. Eric emerged out of middle school acne and awkwardness and into the thriving social circle of the "who's who" of Forks High. He was definitely one of the more intelligent in his group and he was kind enough to extend that to tutoring...and that kind of kindness was never undervalued by those who lived for the party scene.

My twin brother was gentle, kind, and had the same initials that I did, but that was where our similarities came to an abrupt halt.

He was popular among the popular, and I was a wallflower.

"Hey," drummed a voice that I could only describe as male...and tingle-inducing.

As I turned toward the warm call of masculinity, my breath caught in my throat and the brine seemed to sting my nose—resulting in a cough attack. Somehow the sight of BOBBY BLEEPING REDNYOLDS had shot the most basic coordination that it took to breathe.

"HI!" I spluttered loudly (and waaaay too enthusiastically, I internally scolded myself).

"Are you okay?" he actually looked concerned. Holy guacamole.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Uhh, yeah. I must have caught some smoke on the breeze or something," I tried to sound convincing.

"Yeah," he grinned that megawatt grin. "Hey, so you're Yorkie's sister, right?"

"Yeah, something like that," I said, attempting to quell the storm of butterflies rioting in my stomach.

"Well I'd never have believed it," he shrugged.

"Most of the time I wouldn't either," I coyly edged, turning to walk toward the waves. Praying he would follow me.

A large, warm hand closed tightly over my wrist as I turned.

"Wait," he begged.

"Why?. I'm nothing like the girls you usually hang around, and I'm nothing like my brother either."

_Good job Es, stay aloof. Stay aloof. Always keep them chasing, that's what Rose says._

"Sorry," he fumbled, "I guess that's what I meant, but like...in a good way?"

"In a good way?"

He cleared his throat and shifted his weight, a physical picture of mentally composing himself.

"Uh, yeah. Like you're this mysterious bohemian beach gypsy, and Yorkie is just...well...nice," he settled.

_Bohemian beach gypsy, holy guac_. _Stay cool...and maybe pull this skirt out a little more often._

"My brother is nice?" I arched my brow.

"No!" he fumbled again. "Not like '_nice_.' But a decent guy."

I laughed.

He blushed.

"I'm Esme," I offered my hand, bangles clanging in the breeze.

"Bobby," he took it, and instead of shaking my hand, he turned it over and brought it to his mouth, brushing my knuckles in a fleeting kiss.

Forget butterflies. There was a full blown phoenix inside of me, born out of the flames that traveled straight from his lips to my center, dying and rising epically over and over as the heat from his touch and his gaze rolled through me in waves.

_Okay, tone it down. Aloof, remember?  
_  
"Will you come and sit with me?" he asked, applying a slight tug to my hands.

I took a breath to steady myself.

"Sure," a small smile playing at my lips as the breeze picked up and pulled a few strands of hair into my face.

I stepped to him and he placed one of his big, warm, masculine hands in the small of my back, guiding me toward a dune just beyond the bonfire.

Rosalie POV

"Ho-ly hell, Hale!" Em breathlessly called as I unseated myself to collapse on the thoroughly used bunk bed. We just laid there. Panting. Holy hell was right!

"You always say that," I laughed.

He propped himself up on an elbow, extending one hand to rest on my stomach. With one finger tracing my belly button and an ear splitting grin he said "And I always mean it too!"

I rolled my eyes as he picked up my left hand, the finger that had been tracing my belly button now rubbing my third finger.

"But maybe I'll have to give that up sooner rather than later," his soft eyes fixing themselves to me with warm promise.

And here came the tears, wet, betraying bitches.

The memories of us came in a flood all their own: chasing each other as children, our first time in the truck he'd worked so hard for so that we could have our freedom, prom, and the press conference announcing that he'd been recruited by USC. Emmett Masen was one of the pillars of my past, and here, in this run down dorm room where all of the "fish" stayed during orientation, he was assuring me that he wanted to be a part of my future.

"Shhhh, Rosie," he pulled me to him. "I didn't mean to upset you. Honestly, I didn't think that marrying me would depress you so much," his soft smile had turned into a teasing grin.

Two could play at that game.

"Well considering that my parents think that I'm camping with Alice, they'd be pretty shocked if I came home with your ring on my finger," I deadpanned.

"Have I mentioned that you are the coolest chick I've ever met?" he asked sincerely. "If nothing else, the fact that you drove like 2,000 miles to crash my Freshman Orientation should prove that we'll make it.

"I can just see it now," he rolled us onto our backs and pulled me closer still into his side with one arm and gestured with his other, "this time next year will be you and me, here, the sun kissing your beautiful skin, your hair going extra blonde. Maybe you can even apply for summer admission. I can show you to all of your classes..." he waggled his eyebrows, "I'll even work on scoping out a few locations for study breaks," he dropped his gesturing arm and used that hand to lift my chin, "Rose, I promise it'll be us in the sun, everyday. Our life will really get to start. Away from all of the rain and the drama, away from our parents and curfews," at that his hands started going for all of my ticklish places.

I giggled and squirmed as he "chased" me around the lofted twin XL.

"Ahhhh! EMMETT! Emmett! We're gonna—"

But it was too late, our tumbling naked bodies, pillows, and the mattress fell gracelessly to the floor.

Once again, I was out of breath, but this time I was much less pleased as to why. My right shoulder blade was throbbing, and my ankle didn't feel very special either.

I whipped my head around to give Em "the look," only to find him looking like an overgrown puppy caught up in all of the sheets clutching his elbow.

And just like that we were giggling and wrestling again.

"TRUCE!" I called, waving my panties in the air as a sign of surrender. "Truce! I'm starving! Please tell me that they gave you dining vouchers at the info meeting!"

He thrust the mattress (which he'd been using as a shield, cheater!) back up onto the lofted bed frame. "Sure did!" he sang joyfully, grabbing my panties and shoving them in his pocket for good measure, before pulling on the faded jeans. "Does it still count as a date if I don't shell out the greenbacks?"

"Date or not, we have to eat."

"I don't tell you enough how much I love you," he said beaming with pride as I gave up the search for my bra and threw on my crop top, eyeing the accompanying romper under the back pack he'd carried from the info meeting.

He pulled his new school's swag tee out of the bag, tossed the romper to me, and gestured to the door, "After you m'lady."

"ERRRRRRRRR!" formidably buzzed from his pocket. He shot me an apologetic look. I leaned against the wall as he plucked the phone from his pocket and checked the caller ID. "Shit," he said, "This is my cousin, I have to take this. Hang on just a sec OK. Hello?—Whoa, whoa, whoa man!—Slow down Carlisle," he held a hand up to me and walked to the end of the hall, leaning on the sill of one of the windows.

Even from the halfway down the hall I could see Emmett's face freeze and slowly begin changing colors, "That absolute piece of shit! Have you called the cops?" he boomed. Shit. This was bad. I decided to ignore Em's earlier wish and go to him.

"Yeah man. Hey, I love you like the brother I never had—" I arched a brow and mouthed 'Edward' and apparently his cousin said something similar because Em's laugh boomed before he gleefully exclaimed, "EXACTLY! Seriously though, you're family and that means something. I'm at orientation now, but I'll see you when I get home?—Great, bye man."

"Sounds like Edward is getting a roommate," I observed.

Em's face completely lost all traces of joking, a rare event, "It's bad Rose. Like some really heavy shit. Carlisle's dad died a few years back, and his mom never coped well. She's in it deep."

I felt my brow furrow and my mouth turn downward out of reflex, "I'm really sorry Em, but it at least sounds like you'll be able to help, " I offered, trying to give him the hopeful spin that I knew he needed for this time in his life. Em had always taken care of everyone else. His devotion to those he cared for was one of the things I loved most about him. I didn't want him to be looking back and miss out on all the exciting things ahead for him.

"Em, just remember, even though I'm not here with you, YOU are here to have your time in the sun. It's going to be hard for you to scope out all of the drama-free activities here if you are always looking back to the never-ending stream at home."

He offered a fractional smile, "Yeah, I guess. Will you just make sure that he finds a place, in the Fall?"

"Yeah, I will," I promised, my violet eyes saying so many unsaid things to his deep green ones.

And just like that, he slipped his state championship ring onto my finger as a reminder of the promises we had both made that day. 

Bella POV

Katrina and the Waves sang out a prophetic tune across the airwaves as I parked my mom's Jetta, noticing that the "sunshine" they sang about actually seemed to make waves in the air floating over the blacktop.

I threw my small, practical leather bag across my body and crossed the lot quickly. The sweet air conditioning and harsh artificial lights enveloping me in one rhythmic vroosh of the automatic doors.

I nodded toward the elderly greeter, noting that she wasn't a typical demure looking grandma, but rather a wise lioness purveying a scene which made her equal parts bored and wistful. That is the kind of woman I'd be proud to grow into, I thought as I tugged a cart from its lineup of fellows and started to make my round.

Buuummmm baaah duuuhm, baaah baaah daah duuuhm, buuummmm baaah duuhm, baa—

Rang out from my purse as I pulled the small cross body bag up to be unzipped.

My mom's long sheer linen hippy skirts flared out from her body against the backdrop of crisp desert in the caller-ID photo. My favorite photo of her. She was just Reneé. Twirling and giggling through life, trusting that whatever wind she rode would take her wherever she was 'meant' to be.

As I grew up, I also grew into the adult roles that she hadn't quite mastered...like making sure that our utility bill actually got paid on time, feeding her small collection of brightly colored beta fish, and everything pertaining to food...including making trips to the grocery store.

"Hey, mom."

"Hey, baby. I just wanted to go over the list with you one more time. I want us to plan to have a guest for dinner a few times this week. He has some dietary requests," she trailed off.

"If your yogi is coming over again, you can count me out. That guy's natural deodorant doesn't even come close to working," I deadpanned, fighting the urge to barf as the mingled aromas of garlic, BO, and patchouli flooded my olfactory memories.

"Bel-la," she admonished. "You know that Darren is seeking his truth in Thailand." How could I forget, I asked myself as I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, you know I've been seeing Phil lately," she sang as if that oh-so-obviously settled the matter.

"Right, so does that mean that we'll be eating protein shakes for dinner?" I teased, only knowing that he was some kind of professional athlete.

"No silly, not protein shakes, but definitely something healthy..." she trailed off again, leaving the ball in my court.

I wracked my brain. Healthy. Easy. Budget friendly. Hmmm.

"What about a ceviche? Fish is high protein and I think it's low in calories. I can try to copy something that I remember from one of those challenge shows on Netflix."

"Oooooooohhhh! That sounds yummy!" She squealed. "And Bella..." she was beating around the bush.

"Yes, mom? Just say it!" I urged, a smile splitting my face as I could hear her bangles jingling, a tell tale sign of her nervous dance.

"Just. Well. It's just that I really like him. I want to make a good impression," she paused before continuing, "so maybe no chocolate. Or Pringle's...and maybe not some of our other necessities. What is on our list?" she asked.

"Well I guess that stuffed pasta shells are for sure out this week?" I led.

"Oh," she actually sounded disappointed, "well, yes. I guess they should be." I could hear the pout in her voice.

"Okay, well then I'll be grabbing some flank steak, peppers and tortillas for fajitas. I'll make a sauce with cactus fruit to go with the fish and citrus for the ceviche. We already have some long grain rice. I need to pick up some coconut milk and frozen chicken for chicken tikki masala. I'm guessing that you want to omit our oreos, nutty bars, cookie crisps, sour cream and onion chips, and sour cream," I finished in a knowing tone.

"You've always been a smart girl," Reneè countered, just as knowingly. I continued:

"I just used the last of our Tide, so I'll need to grab some of that—"

"Can you also grab a Clorox pen?" Renée interjected.

"Sure. Okay, so the food stuff, the Tide, the Clorox pen, two fish tank filters, and if you're sure that you can live without your chocolate bar and Pringle's, I'll just grab another box of tampons and that should be it," I read off. "Unless you want to cut more things from the list or want to add something else...?" I questioned.

Silence.

"Mom?" I asked. Maybe this clunker of a phone had dropped the call.

I heard some mumbling.

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked, confusion seeping in.

"FUCK!" I heard my mom sob.

"MOM?!" I panicked.

"Shit. Bella." Pause. "I need you to buy a pregnancy test."


End file.
